Emmet horton



(No Model.)

B. HORTON. BERRY HARVESTBR.

No. 520,054. Patented May 22, 1894.-

wimeooeo 81mm" tot UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMMET HORTON, OF DUNDEE, NEW YORK.

BERRY-HARVESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 520,054, dated May 22,1894.

Application filed September 13, 1393- Serial No. 485,390- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMMET HORTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Dundee, in the county of Yates and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Berry Harvesters orGatherers, of which the following, with reference to the drawings, is afull, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to that class of devices for gathering berries, andit consists in certain novel features of construction and combination ofparts, such as will be more fully described hereinafter and pointed outin the claims.

In the drawings hereto annexed, Figure 1 is a perspective view of thecomplete harvester, but showing one of the trays lifted up from itsnormal position, and the canvas which is arranged to form a chute to thetrays, by covering from the trays to an outwardly curved bail, orextended member of the frame, is broken or torn away, to better revealthe manner in which the several parts of the frame are arranged and puttogether. Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the complete harvester,not showing the bat or hook incidental to its use. Fig. 3 is a plan viewof the complete frame of the harvester without the canvas for coveringthe skeleton parts.

In berry gatherers heretofore made, one of the main elements of theirconstruction has been wheels or runners upon which to transport them,the use of which, as applied to their work makes them not selfsupporting, and where a simply arranged recep-tacle resting upon therunners or wheels, has been constructed, no provision has been made toprevent the berries from rebounding out of the receptacle as theyforcefully strike the canvas, or to conveniently empty the berriestherefrom; and where trays have been arranged for conveniently emptyingthe berries, other cumbersome elements with the wheels, have beenintroduced into the same mechanism, and for these reasons the devicesfor gathering berries as heretofore made, have been renderedinconvenient and cumbersome in operation. It is to overcome all of theseobjections, and at the same time make a light and good harvester, that Ihave arranged my present invention.

A represents a rectangular frame, the component parts of which are twosides a a and two ends I) b, all of which parts are firmly nailed, orotherwise secured together end to end at the corners of the frame. Asthus constructed the frame is made longer one way than the other, andthe end parts b b are of less width than the side parts, but all arearranged together vertically and evenly upon their top edges.

B B represent two trays each of which is provided with an end wall 0 andtwo side walls (I d and a bottom. The walls of the trays are made tofill within, and closely fitted alongside of the walls of the frame A,the end wall of the trays adjoining the end wall of the frame, and thetop edges of all the walls in the frame and trays are made level witheach other. From this normal position of the trays in the frame, theyare allowed to swing by having supplied to them pivots e e which passthrough the end of the side walls of the trays, and near the center ofthe side walls of the frame. The end Walls 0 of the trays in theirvertical adjustment are slightly inclined outward at their top edge, sothat when they are let down into the frame their top edge partover-reaches and comes in contact with the frame ends, and the trays arethus prevented from dropping lower than a level with the frame, and atthis time the bottoms of the trays come together, and prevent the traysfrom swinging farther downward than a level with the frame, the bottomsseparating on a central line a crossing the frame, and the pivots beinglocated near the top edges of the walls, each tray exerts upon theother, as they are being filled, a balancing leverage. To the end wallof each tray in a grooved seat for the purpose is secured to turn, underthe staples f astride it and entering the wall, the L shaped hook g, theupper end of the hook is bent into a circle above the Wall of the tray,and by which means the hook may be grasped and turned to hook under thenarrower end piece I) of the frame, thus holding the trays down,while inprocess of filling them with berries, and also to turn to unhook themand lift the trays on their pivots and open the throat h between thetrays, and dump the berries from the trays through the throat thus madeto open, for them, and by which means they can be emptied into a smallbox or other a receptacle.

The frame of the harvester has a back and front side, to which I willrefer in the description of the parts as they are associated or unitedin the frame.

To the back side piece b of the frame and near the center of its length,is made fast on the same bolts which form the pivots for the back sidewalls of the trays, a handle 1; projecting upwardly to be grasped incarrying the harvester.

To each end of the'frame near the back side thereof, is secured on thebolt j an upright standard or brace k the upper end of which isreturned, thus bending it into a loop or handle L. These braces are madeto stand slightly outward and rearward, and are sustained in theirposition by another upright arm or rod m made fast on the bolt 07. tothe ends near the front of the frame, and projecting outwardly andrearwardly up to the upper end, and just below the handle of the brace75, where the two uprights are made fast together by the bolt or rivet 0and again by the rivet 13 through the returned end of the brace orhandle L, from this union of the uprights the front rod m is madecontinuous, and as it passes'across from its union with one brace tothat of the other, it is bent into recircuitous curvatures, or intothree distinct circular arcs, the central one q being forward anduniting the other two which are rearward, and from which the same rod isextended down to the frame. It will be seen that the rod m is thusformed into a sort of bail or skeleton frame for a chute to the trays,and is braced rearwardly by the rods 75, and endwise of the frame by thewire braces r and s which are made to connect diagonally the uppercurved part of the rod m and the back side of the frame below, the wiresbeing looped or twisted about each other where they cross in the center,and to make it convenient in their fastening below to .the frame, piecesof hoop iron 1 provided withahole into which the end of the wire may behooked, are nailed onto the ends of the back side aof the frame.

Urepresents arest for the arm as the operator reaches down over it tograsp hold of the handle 1' at the back side of the frame, to lift andtransport the harvester. Said rest is secured to the wire braces abovewhere they cross each other, and by staples t; which are driven over thewire braces into the rest and clinched to prevent their withdrawing.

Tacked down and around to the upper edge of the ends and back side ofthe frame is the canvas covering 20 and which is drawn taut in alldirections to be looped and sewed, or otherwise secured, on the rod m gor bail of the frame. The canvas is thus brought into a corrugated oruneven chute which approaches a rectangular form as it approaches thetrays, and as the berries are knocked ofi the bushes against the canvasand into the trays, it will be found they will not rebound because ofthe uneven surface of the canvas,

or because the berries cannot be directed to, or precipitated upon thecanvas in a direct radial line to its curves, and the berries gocircling one way or the other, as they strike the canvas, down into thetrays.

00 represents a rod with one end bent into a circular hook and the otherend provided with a handle by which it may be grasped in the hand of theoperator and the hook utilized to hook around the bushes and draw themover the trays, the bat y then can, be brought into play by gentlystriking the bushes with it, or directly the berries ifsomewhat dried,thus jarring and knocking the ripe ones 0d the bushes and gatheringtheminto the trays. The bat y is made of a piece of flat wood with oneend shaped into a handle for its manipulation and the other free partprovided with longitudinal slots, in which are inserted pieces of rubber3 that are made to project slightly beyond the wood of the bat, thusfurnishing asort of cushion to the blow of the bat on the bushes. Therubber strips are retained in the bat by nails which may be driventhrough from its edges.

As the harvester will sit alone upright, or support itself the operatorcan step to one side of it, raise the bushes, and by grasping hold ofthe handle nearest him draw the barvester under the bushes thus held up,and as bushes heavily laden with fruit are often on the ground it is ofgreat concern to have the harvester supportitself and thus give greaterliberty to the person operating it.

\Vhat I claim is 1. A berry harvester having a receptacle for retainingthe berries, and a chute for gathering and directing the berries to thereceptacle, said receptacle consisting of a tray or trays arranged toswing, and to upset and dump their contents through the bottom of theharvester substantially as described.

2. The combination in a berry harvester of a receptacle consisting of atray or trays, and a rod extending outwardly and connecting to the endsof the receptacle, and canvas secured to the receptacle and the rod, toforma chute to gather and direct the berries into the receptacle,substantially as described.

3. In a berry harvester, a chute having its side walls tapering upwardand diverging into concaved chutes, said chutes being separated by aconvex deflecting wall, or walls, to govern and direct the berriestherein, substantially as described.

4. In a berry harvester, in combination, a

bat having one or more raised ribs of elastic H. O. HARPENDING, J. W.HAMNER.

ECO

